Disk storage devices typically include a head suspension for positioning a head slider in close proximity to a rotating disk. Typical head suspensions include a load beam having a loading region at a distal end thereof, and a flexure interacting with the loading region at the distal end of the load beam. The flexure can be either integral with the load beam or it can be formed as a separate piece rigidly mounted on the load beam. The flexure typically includes a flexure tongue which is a cantilever region having one or more free ends on which the head slider is mounted. The head slider mounting region, i.e., the flexure tongue, is resiliently moveable with respect to the remainder of the flexure in response to the aerodynamic forces generated by the rotating air bearing above the rotating disk.
Head suspensions include a formed offset, such as a dimple, having a convex surface formed on either the load beam or the slider mounting region of the flexure. Such offsets typically serve as lifting points, comb contact points, or load points. Load point dimples, also referred to as pivot point dimples, serve as a load point between the flexure tongue/head slider and the load beam, thereby serving as the pivot point about which the flexure tongue/head slider moves or gimbals in response to the aerodynamic forces. The load point dimple extends between the surface at the distal end of the load beam and the surface of the slider mounting region on the flexure. Accordingly, the load point dimple is formed on the load beam of a head suspension so that its convex surface contacts a surface of the flexure tongue opposite the surface where the head slider is mounted. Alternately, the dimple is formed on a surface of the flexure tongue opposite the surface where the head slider is mounted so that its convex surface contacts the load beam. Load point dimples useful in head suspensions are specifically described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,590 and 6,078,470, the entirety of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Disk drives are being designed with smaller and thinner head suspensions. A thinner head suspension requires a correspondingly thinner load beam and thinner flexure. A typical offset having a depression and a corresponding dome is commonly formed using devices such as a punch press. As such, the thin material surrounding the base of the offset and the material on the resulting surface of the offset gets stretched during the process. Even during precision forming processes, regions on the surface of the offset and on and around the base of the offset can experience thinning. Such thinning is undesirable because it can, for example, result in fracture of the thin material. There is, therefore, a continuing need for improved offset structures and methods of manufacture. A load point dimple manufactured from thin stock and having structural integrity would be especially desirable.